Interview with a Family of an Infant

CONDUCTING & WRITING THE INTERVIEW WITH THE FAMILY

Now it is time to get to know your family in more depth. To ensure everyone stays safe and healthy, conduct the visit remotely. Schedule an appointment with the family to talk by phone or video conference.  You will need about an hour to conduct the interview; you may need longer. During the interview, ask the family member for permission to take notes as you talk. If the family would like a note of introduction from me, please let me know.

This interview is an opportunity to gather background material for your Commentary Paper. Here are some categories of questions to ask:

  • Pregnancy and birth
  • First weeks and self-regulation
  • Eating, sleeping, toilet learning
  • Ability to do new things (such as rolling over or reaching, for example)
  • Communication, including linguistic background, what languages the family speaks
  • Gaze and interest
  • Play activities
  • Relationships with key people, who child spends time with, who’s important
  • Reactions to strangers
  • Temperament
  • Family culture, important beliefs and practices that affect childrearing
  • Anything else you think of or that the parent wants to tell you

Try to conduct the interview as casually and conversationally as possible. Ask the family’s permission to take notes during your interview. Together we will develop questions in class that will get the family members talking openly and in detail. Most people love to talk about their children when they know someone is respectful and interested. Please do not give advice.

Conduct the interview as soon as you can – no later than October 4th— so you have plenty of time to write up your notes from the interview in detail.  As you write your paper, do not write what you and the family said verbatim. Instead, summarize what you have learned from the interview for each question.

Interview with the Family of an Infant Paper

~3 pages, typewritten, double-spaced, 12 pt font, standard 1” margins

In this 3-page paper, you will summarize your conversation with the family, sharing what you learned about the family and baby. This will lay the foundation of knowledge and information for your Commentary Paper. Use the notes from your interview to write a paper with the following 3 sections:

  • Section 1: Introduction
  • Section 2: Summary of the Interview
  • Section 3: Conclusion

Section 1: Introduction:

  • Begin your paper by describing:
    • Who was involved in the interview?
    • When the interview take place? (date and time)
    • Where the interview took place?

Section 2: Summary of the Interview

  • Include detailed information on the following topics:
    • Pregnancy and birth experience
    • First weeks of life
    • Eating, sleeping, eliminating/ toilet learning
    • Ability to do new things (such as rolling over or reaching, for example)
    • Gaze and interest
    • Play activities
    • Relationships with key people (who child spends time with, who’s important)
    • Reactions to strangers
    • Communication (including linguistic background, what languages family speaks)
    • Temperament and self-regulation
    • Family culture, important beliefs and practices that affect childrearing
    • Anything else you think of or that the family wants to tell you

Section 3: Conclusion

  • Close your paper with a concluding paragraph that explains:
    • What struck about the family when you when you were conducting the interview, reviewing the notes and/or reflecting on your interview while writing your paper?
    • How does what you learned during the interview connect to class? Make specific connections
    • What you hope to learn from your next visit with the family, which will be to observe the child?

Assessment Rubric (1 point – must meet Learner in all tasks):

ELEMENT NOVICE LEARNER COMPETENT
INTRODUCTION The paper included info about when & where the interview took place &/or who was involved The paper included thorough info about when & where the interview took place & who was involved with rich, vivid details The paper included substantive info about when & where the interview took place & who was involved with rich, vivid details
PREGNANCY,

BIRTH EXPERIENCE,

& 1st WEEKS OF LIFE

 The paper included info about the pregnancy, birth experience, &/or 1st weeks of life The paper included thorough info about the pregnancy, birth experience & 1st weeks of life with rich, vivid details The paper included substantive info about the pregnancy, birth experience & 1st weeks of life with rich, vivid details & well-developed examples
EATING

& SLEEPING PATTERNS

 The paper included info about the child’s eating &/or sleeping patterns The paper included thorough info about

the child’s eating & sleeping patterns with rich, vivid details

 The paper included substantive info about

the child’s eating & sleeping patterns with rich, vivid details & well-developed examples
LEARNING, PLAY & INTERESTS The paper included info about the child’s ability to learn new things, interests & play The paper included thorough information about the child’s ability to learn new things, interests & play with rich, vivid details The paper included substantive info about the child’s ability to learn new things, interests & play with rich, vivid details & well-developed examples
REALTIONSHIPS

&

REACTION TO STRANGERS

 The paper included info about the child’s relationships with key people &/or reaction to strangers The paper included thorough info about the child’s relationships with key people & reaction to strangers with rich, vivid details The paper included substantive info about the child’s relationships with key people & reaction to strangers with rich, vivid details & well-developed examples
COMMUNICATION The paper included info about the family &/or child’s communication The paper included thorough info about the family & child’s communication with rich, vivid details The paper included substantive info about the family & child’s communication with rich, vivid details & well-developed exampled
TEMPERAMENT & SELF-REGULATION The paper included info about the child’s temperament & ability to self-regulate with few details The paper included thorough info about the child’s temperament & ability to self-regulate with rich, vivid details The paper included thorough info about the child’s temperament & ability to self-regulate with rich, vivid details & well-developed examples
CULTURE The paper included info about the family’s culture & childrearing practices with few details The paper included thorough info about the family’s culture & childrearing practices with rich, vivid details The paper included substantive info about the family’s culture & childrearing practices with rich, vivid details & well-developed examples
CONCLUSION The paper included reflections about what you learned from the interview &/or what you hope to learn during the observation The paper included thorough reflections about what you learned from the interview & what you hope to learn during the observation with rich, vivid details The paper included substantive reflections about what you learned from the interview & what you hope to learn during the observation with rich, vivid details & well-developed examples
CLARITY The paper was vague, disjointed, had few details, &/ or not easy to understand at times The paper was coherent, clear, organized, & had many rich, vivid supporting details The paper was coherent, clear, organized, had many rich, vivid supporting details  & had been edited

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Class Activities